Dean for Free Software

I'm still undecided about the Democratic candidates for president next year. To be honest, I can't even name all of them off the top of my head. But I just got nudged in the direction of one of them by an article posted to SlashDot. It points to a page on Howard Dean's web site where his campaign is distributing "Web Community Kits" consisting of open-source software (called DeanSpace), developed for his own campaign. These kits make it easier for independent groups to set up community-organising web sites, such as those developing around Dean's campaign. It's kind of a Movable Type for political campaign sites.

This software is licenced for use and distribution under the GNU General Public Licence, which means that it is free for anyone to use, and to modify to suit their own purposes. Even Republicans. In fact, it's based on pre-existing GPL software (a content-management system called Drupal), which is not at all unusual. That's the whole idea behind the GPL: to make it easier for people to use existing software as the basis for something they'll find useful themselves. The main rule of it is that you have to share. The GPL, originally conceived 20 years ago by a geek named Richard Stallman, has been one of the instrumental factors in the development of the internet. (If you've visited a web site or sent an e-mail message recently, there was probably GPL software involved in the process.) The GPL is a lot like a Microsoft End-User Licence Agreement... except the opposite.

Now, I'm sure that to some extent releasing DeanSpace is a Calculated Political Ploy™ designed to appeal to a certain kind of voter and/or activist without alienating anyone else. But it's a novel CalcPoliPloy, and it also suggests that Dean "gets it" when it comes to technology. (In much the same way that Bill Clinton was the first major-party nominee to "get it" on gay rights, a fact which won him considerable support, and gave the gay community breathing room to focus attention on matters other than defending ourselves from the president.) Dean's official Principles for an Internet Policy are certainly both thoughtful and a far cry from the agendas of censorship and commercial exploitation that seem to drive most politicians when dealing with the internet.

Like I said, I haven't decided which of the candidates I like most, let alone picking a horse to bet on for next year's race. I'm not even committed to the Dems. But it looks like Dean's got a spot on my short list.